wk 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Chape 



rteHt No. 



Shell 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 



DEVOTIONAL BOOKS. 

By David C. Cook. 



These are printed in large type, on laid paper, 
bound in Vellum, with ornamental designs. 



THE LOVE SERIES. 
Size, 4 x 5M- Four books to help us see God's love 
and His desire for our love. 

The Gospel of Love. Love-Bound. 
With Jesus. The Must of Love. 



THE REST SERIES. 
Square shape, size 6x5. Four restful books. God 
wants your life to be restful. 
Lost Crowns. 

Best; or, The Song of Love. 
The Secret of Happy Home Life. 
All Things New. 



THE KINGDOM SERIES. 
Size, 2% x h%. Jesus in four helpful aspects — as 
Conqueror, King, Shepherd and Lord. 
The Conquest of Love. The Good Shepherd. 
The Kingdom of Love. Love's Servants. 



THE CHRISTIAN LIFE SERIES. 
Size, 5x5. Four books to help one in understanding 
and living a true Christian life. 
The World of Grace. 
Holiness and Some Mistakes About It. 
Prayer, and Some Mistakes About It. 
His Name; or, Saved by a Name. 

Any or all of the above sent by mail, prepaid, to 

any address, on receipt of price, 10 cents per copy. 

DAVID C. COOK PUBLISHING CO., - CHICAGO. 



THE "MUST" OF LOVE. 



Zhe "fllbuet" of %ovc; 



OR, 



LOVE'S COMPELLING CALL. 



AN I. A. H. LETTER 

David C. Cook. 



CHICAGO : 
David C Cook Publishing Company, 

36 WASHINGTON STREET. 



\ 



BV4S7? 



16772 



Copyright, 1897, by David C. Cook. 







Wo COPIES RECEIVED. 



£be"flDu0t" of love; 

OR, LOVE'S COMPELLING CALL. 



Dear Friend: 

WOULD like to make this letter to you 
-*- a short and joyous sermon. My text 
contains only two words, but I believe 
them to be the sweetest two words that 
human ear ever heard. They are: " Thou 
shalt." It is the old way of saying you 
must. 

I presume you do not at all like " must," 
but 1 want to tell you that everything 
depends upon how, or where, the " must " 
is used. Some words are sweet or bit- 
ter, according as they are employed. 

The word " must" is generally used in 
trying to compel one to do something 



6 The " Must" of Love. 

that he dislikes; but sometimes it is em- 
ployed to encourage a person to attempt 
what he wishes to do but fears he can- 
not, and then it is quite different. 

Suppose some great person was about 
to hold a grand reception in your town. 
You heard about it, and knew it would 
be a delightful affair. It would be the 
joy of your life to attend, but you had 
not been invited. Perhaps you had 
reason to believe you would not receive 
an invitation, either because you were 
not acquainted with the person giving 
the reception, or did not think your social 
standing sufficiently high, or fancied you 
had given offense in some way. Then 
if you should receive through the mail a 
formal printed invitation, you might 
think it was a mistake — that it was not 
intended for you. But if it was a written 



The " Must" of Love. 7 

one, and bore your name at the head, it 
would delight you; and the more strongly 
the letter was worded, the more it would 
interest you. If it said, "You must 
come, for we need you to complete the 
joy of the occasion," I am sure you would 
think all the more of it. 

Of course you know what follows the 
two words of my text: " Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and 
with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
and with all thy strength" (Mark 12: 30). 
There are many sorts of invitations, but 
none so attractive as an invitation to 
love. And this is the strongest possible 
one of that kind, for it is an invitation 
to love with all your being. It shows 
you how the One who gives it feels. To 
love with all your being must mean to 
be happy with all your being. 



8 The "Must" of Love. 

This invitation is called a command- 
ment. The words were first spoken by 
God to Moses, and he was to tell them to 
the Jews as God's message to them. 
Afterwards when Jesus was asked by 
some of the Jews what was the greatest 
commandment of their law, He repeated 
this one, saying it was the greatest of 
all. 

Is not this a strange sort of command- 
ment? Think for a minute. You are 
accustomed to having persons bid you 
do things that you do not wish to, but 
this is an injunction to do something you 
naturally most wish to do. But it is truly 
like all of God's commandments. God 
is love, and Love's commandments are 
the opposite of those to which we are 
accustomed. People misunderstand 
God's commands because they misunder- 



The " Must" of Love, g 

stand His loving nature; they misunder- 
stand His nature because it is so unlike 
what their own seems to be. 

People will never love because you say 
they must. You cannot compel another 
to love you, and you cannot make your- 
self love any one; yet you never love ex- 
cept as you feel that you must. 

True love always calls for love in re- 
turn. The heart must respond when it 
knows that true love is calling it. This 
it cannot help doing. Love does not con- 
sider the person; it thinks of the heart 
alone, for the heart is the real person. But 
we are apt to judge ourselves unworthy 
of true love. We may either think that 
the love is not genuine, or that there is 
some mistake about it. 

If you do not believe that true love al- 
ways calls for love in return, it is because 



io The " Must " of Love. 

you do not understand what I mean by 
the word. Much of so-called "love" is 
not love at all, for it cares for another 
only that it may secure some good for 
itself. Some try to secure the love of 
others rather than to give their own. An 
honest person cannot want another's love 
except in exchange for his own. He can 
care for another only as he wants to 
bless that other. Do you know that love 
has been defined as "the desire to bless"? 
God can have no selfish thought in 
desiring your love. That is not real love 
which wants another's love for what it 
will bring to himself. To want something 
selfishly is not love, but rather what we 
call an appetite. Why should God want 
the love of your whole being? It is only 
that He may bless your whole being. If 
God did not love you with all His being, 



The " Must " of Love. u 

He could not want you to love Him in 
that way. The love of the Infinite One 
must be far deeper than yours can be. 
It is all yours, for love cannot be divided. 
As the sun shines for each one, and as 
though for only one, so is all of His love 
yours, as if you were the only human 
being in His universe, if you will receive 
it thus. 

God could not wish your love or invite 
it except as He loves you. Only so far 
as one truly loves is it possible for him to 
desire another's true love. To draw out 
the love of your whole being toward God, 
you will need to see that He loves you 
with all His being. The love of your whole 
being is as much to you as the love of 
His whole being is to Him. God cannot 
and does not ask what He does not give. 
They are brutes who, in the guise of 



12 The "Must " of Love. 

Love, seek to win love without loving. 
All expect love from one who asks love, 
and we have a right to do so. Remem- 
ber that it is God who comes seeking 
your love. 

Now if God had said, " It is best 
for you to love me," you might have 
thought He did not care much about it; 
but when He says, " You must love me, 
and love me with all your nature," you 
can surely know that at heart He thus 
loves you. You can know, too, that 
He must have your love, if there is any 
way in which He can cause you to see 
His love so plainly that you cannot 
do other than give Him yours in return. 
When you understand this you see how 
He would even die to win your heart's 
love, and yet would leave you free so 
that you might give this to Him freely 



The " Must " of Love. 13 

and gladly, because only so could you 
give it truly. Love that is given under 
compulsion is not love, except when 
compelled by love. 

Do not say, " I fear this love is not for 
me, for I have refused it." The love of 
God cannot be changed or limited by 
anything you have done. It is only as 
you hide yourself from it, refusing to see 
or respond to it, that such love fails to be 
yours. 

You can refuse to believe that God 
loves you, and while you continue to do 
so nothing can bring you to love Him. 
But if you believe and respond, nothing 
can separate you from His love. You 
cannot blot out the love of God from 
your sky, any more than you can blot 
out God Himself. You can shut yourself 
up in the dark if you choose, but as the 



14 The "Must " of Love. 

sun shines each day, so does God's love 
stream out for you, for He is love. You 
can remain in the dark until frozen and 
dead, or you may step out into the sun- 
shine where you will find light and 
warmth. To be away from Him is to be 
unhappy. While you remain away, you 
are ever losing, and such loss is eternal. 

God wants your love regardless of 
who you are. It is you He loves. He 
can help you only as He can draw you 
to Himself in love. True love makes 
one intensely sympathetic. If only you 
could know the anguish and suffering in 
the heart of God for those away from 
Him, you would never say, "He cannot 
love me." 

It does not seem to me there could be 
any doubt as to our loving God with all 
our being if only we knew He loved us 



The "Must" of Love. 15 

in that way, for a life all-love is a life of 
fruition. People are dying for want of 
love. Why do they not seek His love ? 
Beneath the ground in many parts of 
the Western States are great coal-beds. 
They were there when these States were 
first settled. The forests were scarce — 
much more so than at the present time. 
There was great need of fuel, and the 
lack of it caused much suffering. Men 
noticed indications of coal, and the atten- 
tion of the settlers was called to this 
again and again by scientists; they said, 
"If you seek you will find." But the 
loose pieces upon the surface were not 
good coal. Scientific men explained 
that these had become mixed with the 
soil and affected by exposure to the air, 
and they believed that the coal in the 
ground would be good. But some of the 



16 The "Must" of Love. 

people said, " What if it is worse ? " 
They were skeptical. By and by cer- 
tain ones were persuaded to " try their 
luck." This required labor, time and 
money. They dug wells, they tunneled 
hills; they met with many discourage- 
ments and failures; they were laughed 
at and joked about, they were pitied 
and despised by their neighbors. But 
some kept on until success was certain. 
Now, the people all wanted coal, those 
who laughed as well as those who 
labored and sought for it, and God 
wanted them to have it. But only those 
who actually sought found it. 

A person once wrote to me saying, " I 
think God must be very selfish to re- 
quire all of my love." But I am sure He 
is most unselfish in this requirement. 
Do you not see that you need some one 



The " Must " of Love. 17 

whom you can love, far more than some 
one to love you? It is the emotion of 
love in your own heart that makes you 
happy. If you knew that a person loved 
you, but there was no response on your 
part, you would not receive a particle of 
happiness from it. Fullness of joy can 
come only from perfect loving. You will 
be full of joy if there is some one you 
can love with all your being. You can 
love with all your being one who is per- 
fectly lovely. 

One hears it said that man and 
woman were made for each other; that 
neither man's life nor woman's life alone 
is complete; that they begin to live truly 
when in love two hearts are made one. 
Far more true is this of God and you. 
I am sure you can think of no closer 
union than that to which He invites you. 



1 8 The "Must" of Love. 

Perhaps you think that you do not 
wish to love so intensely. It is from 
fear of too little love that many hesitate 
about marriage. None fear to marry 
lest the love may be too great. Love's 
bonds are never irksome, but mar- 
riage without love is. When vows 
take the place of love, and duty the 
place of joyous doing for one another, 
then is married life a bondage. So it is 
with you and God. Lack of love makes 
all the trouble. 

Many a married pair live together 
without love, and in heart they are far 
apart. The law may still call them hus- 
band and wife, but in heart they are 
parted, for love is absent. They may 
even be farther apart than if separated 
by miles of land or sea, for living to- 
gether under such circumstances serves 



The "Must" of Love. ig 

only to keep the hearts apart. It is the 
same in your union with God. This 
union ought to be all of love. If love is 
lacking it can never satisfy. Upon love's 
intensity depends your joy. The reason 
why there are so many unhappy, un- 
christian lives is because so many have 
never heard the " must" of love. 

I would not say anything against 
married love. Such love may ever be 
sweet, if love to God is perfect; but it 
can never be what love between God 
and you may be. At its best it is not 
worthy of such comparison. It is as if 
you compared the borrowed moonlight 
with the resplendent glory of the sun- 
shine, or a moment of time with eter- 
nity. 

Sometimes circumstances blind one to 
the love of another, and then perhaps a 



20 The "Must" of Love. 

deep, true affection is not returned. 
When one is wealthy and the other poor, 
one of high social standing and the other 
obscure, it leads one to believe that the 
love of the other is not genuine. The 
heart says, " He does not mean it. He is 
mocking me. It is a passing fancy. He 
would soon tire of me," and so on. To 
win a bride of the people, one must him- 
self be of the people. 

Perhaps you remember the allegory 
of the prince in disguise who had seen 
a peasant maiden and become charmed 
with her beauty and loveliness, the 
sweetness of her voice, the simple and 
natural grace of her manners. Day after 
day the picture of her face came up 
before him instead of fading from his 
mind, until finally, in words the sweetest 
he could command, he wrote asking her 



The " Must " of Love. 21 

to be his princess. But he was refused. 
Chagrined, perplexed and disheartened, 
the more he dwelt upon it the more un- 
happy he became, until, as he lay awake 
one night, Wisdom in fairy form came to 
his relief. " It is because she cannot 
believe your love for her is true," she 
told the prince. " You must win her love 
by convincing her of your own." And 
now in a little hovel dwells, as a peasant, 
a prince in disguise, who toils the long 
day through, and at night rests on a bed 
of straw, while his food is the coarsest. 
But his heart is light, for the love of the 
peasant maiden is his. He has won his 
bride, his princess, by being one with 
her in her daily work and care. Can 
you believe me when I tell you that God 
is unchanged; that the same Jesus whom 



22 The " Must " of Love. 

men once saw clothed in human flesh 
still lives with us here? 

Some are greatly prejudiced against 
God. They have not the faintest idea 
what His real heart is. A widower who 
married again had three children, a boy 
of eight, a girl of ten, and a young 
lady daughter, Helen. Step-mothers are 
not all hateful creatures — though some 
may be — but Helen believed they were, 
and taught this belief to her younger 
brother and sister, so the new mamma 
met with a rather cold reception. But 
resolves to hate her did not last long 
with the younger children. A few days 
after the mamma arrived Helen was much 
surprised at seeing her little sister warmly 
return a kiss from the step-mother. 
When alone with her she said, " Oh, 
May, how could you do it?" " I couldn't 



The "Must" of Love. 23 

help it," was the child's reply. " I have 
to love her, for she loves me." It must 
be even so with you when once you 
know God's love. 

There will never be happy living until 
there is perfect loving. How tired you 
are! Yes, but don't you see that God 
can rest you only as in loving trust you 
will lay yourself on his bosom? The 
heart that has never truly loved has 
never been truly happy. The heart out 
of which love has never flowed has never 
been alive. But true love would make 
alive each dead heart. It would arouse 
true love in you. True love is most 
valuable, for it never changes. It lives 
forever, because it is a part of God. 

I wish you could see how much God 
desires your love, and how complete He 
wishes it to be. He could not say " you 



24 The "Must" of Love. 

must love me thus " if He was not ready 
to do everything that His infinite love 
and wisdom can devise to bring you to 
thus love Him. The cross upon which 
Jesus hung at Calvary is an expression 
of the intensity of His love to-day. 

Often have you heard the words " God 
is love," but unless you can arouse your- 
self to see something of what they mean, 
the other words, " You must love Him," 
will have little significance to you. 

Forgive me, dear friend, if I seem to 
talk as though I felt myself better than 
you. I do not mean to. The more clearly 
I see the truth of what I am now saying, 
the more unworthy do 1 feel to speak 
upon the subject to others. 

If only we believed that God is love, 
the Source and Fountain of love, it would 
change all things. But we think of Him 



The "Must" of Love. 25 

as everything except love, and so we try 
to satisfy ourselves with giving Him all 
else but love. Hearts are breaking for 
want of love to Him, but they do not 
realize what is the matter. Never can the 
heart be satisfied until there is perfect, 
loving union with God. 

There is a Bible large enough for you 
and me in the three words, " God is 
love," if only we believed and acted 
upon them. True belief does this. One 
whose being is all love to you must com- 
mand the love of all your being, when 
you recognize it. And why should not 
He who is Love, and whose creation you 
are, have your love? 

Perhaps you have heard the story of 
the mother who took her baby to an 
oculist, to learn what was the matter 
with its eyes. They had never seemed 



26 The "Must" of Love. 

to be right. The child did not notice 
things as other babies did. Perhaps you 
can understand something of how she 
felt when the doctor said, " Madam, I am 
sorry I must tell you that your child is 
blind; he will never see." "Oh! Doctor, 
you do not mean it! Is there no help? 
My child! my baby! Will he never see 
the face of his mother? Oh, he must 
see, he must see! You must cure him, 
doctor." 

Of all wretched imaginations of the 
heart, and teachings of those whose 
hearts are not right, is the idea that you 
cannot add to God's happiness. It is the 
worse because it completely cuts off all 
human relations with God. If I cannot 
add to His happiness, then I am sure I 
cannot subtract from it. If my life can- 
not affect Him, then He does not and 



The "Must" of Love. 27 

cannot care for me. To believe this is to 
believe that He is hatred, not love. 

Some fail to see how God can suffer 
and yet be God. I believe it is godlike 
to suffer. Suffering and glory are closely- 
linked together. God had to clothe Him- 
self with flesh in order that we might see 
that He could suffer, that He did suffer, 
and does suffer. In Jesus' life we find a 
perfect picture of God's life, and He is 
the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

Do not think that you cannot bless 
God. With each love-thought that goes 
out to Him you bless Him. Does the 
child feel that it cannot bless its father 
and mother with its love because it cannot 
work for them, provide them with food 
and raiment, care for them when they 
are sick, or advise them in any way? 
Love consists not in special acts of help- 



28 The " Must " of Love. 

fulness. It is the devotion of one heart 
to another. 

There are four ways in which God in- 
vites us to love Him completely — with 
the heart, soul, mind, and strength. 
Real love is of the heart, and if you love 
with all the heart, the rest follows. But 
the trouble is, many do not let their 
hearts control their actions. Some do 
not seem to have much heart left. You 
will find people trying to love God with 
all the heart, when their minds are so 
full of other things that they have no 
time for thoughts of love. Then there 
is a sort of head-love which some have. 
They feel it is the right thing to love 
Him. They say they do love Him, and 
they ask others to do so. They go reg- 
ularly to church, they speak in prayer- 
meeting, and perhaps teach in the Sun- 



The "Must" of Love. 2Q 

day-school. They give to the poor and 
to other worthy causes. Yet they have 
little heart-love. Commonest of all are 
such as put no earnestness into loving 
God. Their strength is given to other 
things. 

In order to come to love God with 
your whole being, you must see that 
you are not doing so now. I am sure 
that when one really loves Him he will 
know something about Him. Some are 
not even sure that there is a God. Did 
you ever love anyone so much that the 
person's face was always before you, 
that thoughts of that one entered into 
every thought of your life, that you felt 
perfectly happy when with him, and 
when away were ever looking forward 
to the next meeting? Do you, or did 
you ever, love God thus? 



jo The " Must " of Love. 

Perhaps you ask, " Can I love God as 
I love a human being? Is it not a differ- 
ent kind of love?" People are apt to di- 
vide love into love for parents, love for 
wife or husband, love for children, love 
for friends, and still another kind — love 
for God. But there are not various 
kinds of love, though it may differ in in- 
tensity. Love to God should be first, 
strongest and most intense; it should be 
the love in which all others grow. 

Love to God is not different in nature 
from other love. God tries to attract our 
iove to Him by representing Himself to 
us as a father, and as a brother, and as a 
bridegroom. Indeed, whatever form of 
love we know, He shows His readiness 
and wish to receive it. 

Listen to these words of Jesus, spoken 
when He was told that His mother and 



The "Must" of Love. 31 

His brethren waited outside the door, 
desiring to speak to Him. He turned 
and said, as though to make plain to 
those about Him that He would gladly 
receive them in the most tender relation- 
ship: "Whosoever shall do the will of 
God, the same is my brother, and my 
sister, and mother" (Mark 3: 35). As 
you come into love's most tender rela- 
tionship with God you " do His will," 
for His will is love. 

Some have thought that love to God 
is more like reverence. But reverence 
is not love, and may be given without 
it. The word "reverence" suggests 
fear — and " perfect love casteth out 
fear" (1 John 4: 18). Many seek to 
please God in some other way than 
by giving Him love. They give Him 



32 The " Must " of Love. 

respect in place of it, or perhaps try to 
give Him trust and faith without it. 

Doing "the proper thing," or "the right 
thing," often takes the place of a religion 
of complete, joyous love. Sanctimoni- 
ous, long-facedness, veneration (so- 
called), take the place of a life of love. 
Worship ( the perfection of love ) is 
conceived of as the spending so much 
time in going to church, making prayers, 
singing holy songs, and so on. People 
who do these things regularly (from 
force of habit perhaps) are sometimes 
held up to us as model Christians. The 
result is that many think of religion as a 
sad but at the same time a necessary 
thing. They say, " Oh, of course you 
are good, and I am not; but then, I 
have much the best time." Many 
times young people are advised to have 



The "Must " of Love. 33 

their fun and pleasure before becoming 
Christians. 

There can be no other life so happy as 
one devoted to loving God, for there are 
none so lovable as He. But some people 
will work for God, live and die for Him, 
and yet not be happy, because they 
have never given Him love. I sometimes 
think that Satan cares very little about 
what people profess or do, so long as he 
can keep them from knowing the love 
of God and so from loving Him. 

You do not get into the habit of lov- 
ing, but rather into that of not loving. 
The habit-life is a mechanical one. 
Every bit of love is active; love is never 
passive. Habit-life is devoid of love; it 
does as a machine. 

Intense love must find expression, but 
it is in freedom of action. Good actions 



34 The " Must " of Love. 

from habit are slavish; there is no heart 
in them. 

If you are to love God you must see 
that He is the nearest of all to you. You 
cannot help loving most what seems 
truly the nearest. Perhaps you are say- 
ing, " My mother, father, brother, sister, 
husband or wife, or some friend, is the 
nearest one to me. I am all that he or 
she has — while God has so much to look 
after and think about that I cannot be 
much to Him." No one can be so near 
or so dear to you as God. It is impossi- 
ble. No one can be so constantly with you, 
so completely enter into your every pleas- 
ure and every trouble, so rejoice with 
you and suffer with you, so cheer you, 
so rest and refresh you. And no one 
else so desires to. 

Perhaps you say, "I do love Him." 



The "Must ' ' of Love. 35 

Perfect love trusts perfectly. Is your life 
free from anxiety and worry? You can- 
not trust more than you love. You will 
trust Him or love Him only so far as you 
know His love. 

There is a great difference between a 
life of love and one of struggling to do 
right. The two are as unlike as can be 
imagined. Love and law-keeping are 
often spoken of together by Jesus, but 
He connects them in a different way from 
what some do. He says, " If ye love me, 
keep my commandments" (John 14: 15); 
and again, " He that hath my command- 
ments and keepeth them, he it is that 
loveth me" (John 14:21). The keeping 
of them shows that you are one who 
loves Him; without love the command- 
ments are not truly kept. Outward 
keeping of them alone is but a sham. 



j6 The " Must " of Love. 

As you love you keep them uncon- 
sciously. 

The one who loves God with all his 
being lives regardless of law, yet keeps 
the law perfectly. Love is a law to him, 
and perfect love is perfect law. Have 
you never heard of " the perfect law of 
love"? . It is said there are more than five 
hundred laws in Chicago for the break- 
ing of which people are punished. I do 
not know any of these; I have never read 
them, nor found it necessary to do so 
in order to keep them. There are per- 
sons much interested in knowing these 
laws; they are such as are anxious, for 
selfish reasons, to break them and yet 
avoid punishment. You may give a 
person all the rules governing music, 
and yet he may not be able to sing, be- 
cause he has no music in his soul. So 



The " Must " of Love. 37 

one may have a knowledge of all the 
laws of right and wrong, yet not be 
able to keep any of them truly, because 
a love for keeping them is wanting. 

The Bible says much about obedience, 
but there are several kinds. One you 
dislike; obedience to force — or what you 
think is forced obedience — you never 
like. Then there is obedience to a sort 
of self-love, where one lets his passions 
control him and in the end is destroyed. 
Others seek by force of will to do what 
they think is right — to obey the dictates 
of their parents, the rules of their teachers, 
the teachings of the Bible — though mean- 
while their hearts are rebellious. In all 
of these cases there is obedience to what 
one dislikes. But others there are who 
obey because of true love. This is 
natural obedience, the other unnatural. 



j8 The "Must" of Love. 

One reason why some do not succeed 
in finding God nearest and dearest to 
them is because they try to love Him so 
that they may be blessed by Him. With 
some, religion is all business; the heart 
has nothing to do with it. To the extent 
that this is true it is a mockery. 

I want to tell you what a beautiful 
Scotch writer, Rev. George Matheson, 
says of love's bondage: 

" Have you ever felt what a compliment it is, 
when a man is possessed of any special virtue, to 
be able to say of him, ' he cannot help it '? To 
my mind it is the climax of all compliment. In 
the world of intellect every man would deem it so. 
What do we mean by that word ' genius '? Is it 
not simply that a man cannot help being great? 
He sings or paints, not because he can, but because 
he must; because there is within him the breath of 
inspiration which will not let him go until he has 
blessed the world. That is genius, the thing that 
all men reverence. They reverence the man be- 



The " Must " of Love. 39 

cause he cannot help it. He is dominated by a 
power higher than his own, and his crown is the 
fact of being conquered. Oh, thou divine Love, 
thou Genius of my heart! The moment thou 
comest I say, I cannot help it. And I feel that 
when this happens I am not poorer, but richer. I 
never conquer till I can fight no more. Come and 
conquer me, thou overmastering Love. My inde- 
pendence of thee is my night. I have the struggle 
of duty, and the struggle of conscience, and I 
often win. When I win I am proud of myself, for 
I feel how difficult it has been. But when thou 
shalt come, oh, Love! then there will be no dif- 
ficulty. I shall be borne resistless in thy chariot. 
Thy charm shall be my chain. " 

We should have no need of trying to 
love God. His love, when you realize it, 
will draw out your love. Some see 
everything else but love in the life and 
death of Jesus. He was God in human 
flesh. His death was the complete un- 
veiling of God's love. "God commend- 
eth His love toward us, in that, while we 



40 The "Must" of Love. 

were yet sinners, Christ died for us" 
(Rom. 5: 8). 

If you would know that there is a God 
to love, believe the words " God is love," 
and love Him. Then you will soon know 
it. Some try to know Him by a sort of 
faith which is only another name for 
credulity. 

You need to see that the life I have 
been telling you about is the life to live, 
and believe that to live it is possible. 
Such love to God must be natural. To 
love Him with all the being must be to 
carry out the true promptings of your 
heart. 

You need to be more capable of lov- 
ing, You have little capacity, for your 
heart has grown unnatural. The world 
is wide: it is easy to put a few miles be- 
tween yourself and others whom you 



The "Must" of Love. 41 

have loved. A few cross words, an un- 
kind action, and you are separated. It 
is easy to get away from others; it is 
hard afterwards to get close to them. 
The saddest letters I have ever received 
came from persons wanting to love God 
and who had tried to do so in every 
way they knew of. Such persons say, 
" Oh, if I could only believe that He 
loves me! But I cannot." It is a fact 
all too true that many, deep down in 
their hearts, cannot seem to believe that 
God loves them. 

How are you to love God? Put your- 
self within love's attraction. Put your- 
self where you can hear the " must" of 
love. Open the deaf ears to it. How 
shall you do this? Put yourself away 
from different attractions. Choose to do 
this with all your heart. Lay your love 



42 The "Must" of Love. 

at His feet. Believe that His love is true. 
Say with your heart, " I am yours." As 
you do this actively, and continuously, 
true love will begin to grow. 

When you can say as Paul said, " I am 
determined not to know anything but 
Jesus" (1 Cor. 2: 2),— nothing but Him 
as Love — then you will soon know the 
heart of God in Jesus as all love toward 
you. When you can say with Paul 
again, " I count all things but loss * * 
that I may win Christ" (Phil. 3: 8), 
then you will win Him. But you must 
set your heart upon it, as you have set 
it upon things infinitely less worthy. 
Begin loving Him as the young man 
starts about winning his bride. Go with 
Him everywhere. Become acquainted 
with Him through every means. Learn 



The " Must " of Love. 4.3 

all you can about Him. Tell others what 
you learn. 

" But would it not unfit me for every- 
thing else?" I hope so for awhile. You 
might become very sentimental. Per- 
haps you want a religion of action, not 
emotion. But is not one most active 
when most alive? Do you know of any- 
thing that puts life into a person as love 
does? Our lives are nothing to what 
they might be, for want of the exercise 
of love. 

"But would I have time for anything 
else?" Yes, but it takes time to love 
God. You take time for rest, recreation 
and sleep; there is no rest like loving. 
It strengthens the soul and body. It is 
not work that kills, it is worry. Men 
are blaming God for their misery, yet all 
their misery comes from lack of love. 



44 The " Must " of Love. 

Love lightens the load in the home 
and out of it. It brings contentment. 
You do not worry about ways and 
means. What comes into your life 
pleases. All things are received as the 
best. Nothing seems common-place. 
Each hour brings some new surprise, 
some new lesson. 

A want of loving trust complains of 
what God sends — as the children of Israel 
said when He lovingly cared for them in 
the wilderness, — " Our soul loatheth this 
light bread." But the spirit of love says, 
" Lord, evermore give us this bread." 

Can you say these words: "Whom 
have I in heaven but thee? and there is 
none upon earth that I desire beside 
thee"? (Ps. 73: 25). You would like to 
say them, but can you? 

If you are truly to answer to the 



The " Must " of Love. 45 

" must" of love you must see that God 
is one like unto yourself. Only as He is 
like your true self can you love Him. 
You long to love one who is your perfect 
ideal. You long for companionship with 
one altogether lovely. There is within 
you a desire to rise to your highest ideal 
and to have the closest companionship 
with such a one. 

Your life must ever move within a cir- 
cle unless there is something above and 
beyond toward which it can advance. 
Perhaps you feel like the young eaglet 
brought up in captivity among the barn- 
yard fowls — as though somehow your 
life was all wrong. At times you have 
caught a glimpse of a different life — one 
away from the clamor and gossip around 
you; out of the scratching and fighting 
for self, the picking and kicking at oth- 



46 The" Must" of Love. 

ers, the big ones crowing over the little 
ones. You feel that you can hold your 
own with the rest, and sometimes come 
out ahead in the fight, but each note of 
triumph you utter seems to choke you, 
every battle won for self seems won at 
the expense of self — a battle lost by 
your better nature. Sometimes there has 
crossed your vision one like unto your- 
self, but radiant with a different life. 
You thought you heard a familiar voice 
calling you to fly away and be at 
rest. Perhaps you tried to do so. You 
seemed to rise a little, but your wings 
were weak. When you looked about 
again you found yourself still with the 
others. Perhaps you heard them croak- 
ing as though you had tried to do some- 
thing and failed. Perhaps you felt in 
pain, as though you had fallen. You 



The " Must" of Love. 47 

may have thought it a dream, but again 
you are attracted by the same vision, and 
this time the sky seems clear. There can 
be no mistake. It is the loving call of One 
like unto yourself, a call to a life of lov- 
ing companionship with Him — to a life 
above the clouds. You want to fly. 
You must fly. 

I see another picture. It is a ladder 
set up upon the earth. Its foot rests at 
your head; its top enters the sky. The 
clouds seem parted. Beyond is a city, 
and within it a throne. One upon it at- 
tracts all. Happy is every face about 
Him. But the distance seems great, the 
ladder frail. Yet now are seen shining 
ones going up and down upon it. How 
happily they glide! How their faces 
change as they climb, growing in bright- 
ness as they near the top! And He who 



f8 The "Must" of Love. 

attracts all these attracts you also; the 
Voice upon the throne of love eternal is 
calling you to come, and you feel that 
you must obey. Everything you touch 
fades; even the granite of earth crumbles 
away; nothing seems to satisfy. Earth's 
foundations perish. 

Again I see a vision. It is a city 
descending, a city that hath foundations 
in your heart and mine, for its builder 
and maker is God. It is the holy city, the 
City of Love made perfect; for as the love 
is perfect, so is the life. It is called the 
New Jerusalem. In this city will you 
awake when swallowed up in love to 
God. It is prepared as a bride adorned 
for her husband, and no love of human 
heart for earthly companion can compare 
with the glory of this City of Love. One 
upon the throne is the light of it. He at- 



The " Must " of Love. 49 

tracts all to Himself, for He is One like all 
— One like you and me. You feel that 
you belong with Him — close to Him. But 
your garments seem soiled, torn and unfit 
for companionship with Him, and you cry 
out, " Oh, when shall I awake in His 
likeness!" When, indeed? When the 
love is perfect. 

Love's compelling call sounds at first 
faintly, then more loud and clear as 
you listen. Steel near the magnet feels 
attracted toward it; as it responds it is 
drawn rapidly. When in contact with 
the magnet the union is hard to sever. 

If you have caught a glimpse of God, 
of His infinite love for you, then there is 
no rest away from Him, for you have 
tasted of the heavenly rest. There is no 
contentment here, for you have caught a 
glimpse of heaven. You see its treasure. 



50 The " Must" of Love. 

Your heart calls you where your treasure 
is. You have been dead, but now you 
feel alive. Before there was no pain; 
you did not care, for you were without 
feeling, but now you are alive and have 
an almost resistless longing to be where 
you belong. The heaven-life is the love- 
life. Why wait longer for it? 

Perfect love unites completely. Where 
God and you are one, there is heaven. 
Have you tasted of the bread of heaven? 
Have you drunk of life's water? Then 
you have a soul-hunger and thirst which 
cannot be satisfied apart from God, for 
He is the bread and water of life. Away 
from Him you feel as a famished one. 
Your tongue is parched. You are tor- 
mented. The flames of an unsatisfied 
heart have wrapped themselves about 
you; its heated air is intolerable; you 



The "Must " of Love. 51 

long for the free air of the heaven-life. 
Where you are is a life of death — worse 
than death; it is a part of the second 
death, and you are within its shadow. 
You who were created in God's image, 
made in His very likeness, if away from 
Him are in torment. Sin, which is lack 
of love, is torment. Can you not realize 
this? 

Do not try to get away from these 
words, " Thou shalt." Let them ring un- 
ceasingly in your ear. Yes, you must 
You must because God wants the love 
of your whole being. I wish you could 
even half appreciate His loving call. I 
wish you could begin to fathom the love 
that uttered it. I wish you could truly 
hear it. 

May the cadence of my text ever ring 
in your ears and mine, more and still 



52 The "Must " of Love. 

more sweet and forceful, until all within 
us is conquered by the " must " of love, 
and we are ONE with Him, and so too 
with others, in a love measureless and 
unending. 

Lovingly yours, 



J8 






THE I. A. H. CIRCLE. 

Do you want a charmed life? Then you should join 
the I. A. H. Circle. Over one hundred thousand 
joined the first year. 

It is not a society. It has no constitution, by-laws 
or pledges. To cover the cost of letters and books 
such as are sent free to each member, also for postage 
and other expenses, we charge 

Twenty-Five Cents Membership Fee 
for joining the Circle. This is all it costs. There are 
no dues to pay after you join. Each member is given 
a number. When once you have joined, you are 
always a member unless you withdraw. 
Privileges of Members. 

One of the chief features of the Circle is its silver 
ring, because wearing it as directed, when once the 
Charmed Life is understood, so greatly helps one to 
enter it and keep there. The ring is sent free and 
postpaid. But Circle members have much besides to 
help them. 

A Personal Friend to Write to.— Each one is 
entitled to the privilege of correspondence with Mr. 
Cook, the founder of the Circle. Members may write 
to him whenever in perplexity or trouble. Each letter 
so received is confidential. Each one is answered 
personally. No charge is made for any answer. The 
only expense to the one writing is a two-cent stamp 
to pay postage on reply. 

Daily Help from the Charmed Life Book.— 
This contains a letter written by Mr. Cook for each 
day of the month. The Letters are intended as helps 
for each day for a year. At the end of the first year 
you can receive a new book containing a new set of 
letters by sending five cents for the same, and again 
at the end of the second year. 

Access to a Library of Helpful Letters.— 
These letters, written by Mr. Cook, are upon subjects 
in which Circle members are most interested. They 
have been written in answer to questions from Circle 
members. Each Letter is printed in the shape of a 
little book. These letters, which you may keep, cost 
only a penny each. To this library are constantly 
being added new letters. 

Full particulars sent free. Address, 

DAVID C. COOK, I. A. H. CIRCLE, 

36 Washington Street, Chicago. 



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